Jump down the Rabbit Hole to a World of Colour with Josef Albers
Artists I Like, Josef Albers a Modern Master of Colour
“The Source of Art …is the discrepancy between physical fact and psychic effect “ — Josef Albers
What makes Josef Albers stand out from many other artists of his time is the intense focus and dedication to studying colour and this dedication may well have been the impetus that bestowed upon him the honour of being the first ever living artist to have a solo retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Josef Albers was a master of colour and a teacher. I was first introduced to him when his book Interaction of Color was on the syllabus for the foundation Colour Theory course in college. Along with his book we were required to purchase a pack of very expensive beautiful paper. In addition to a myriad of painting and drawing colour projects, we were required to mimic his experiments based on specific criteria. Together with that, we were required to compose works with paper cut-outs using only these papers. Mimicking his experiments with paper brought to light the most important lessons anyone can learn about colour. You can still learn about colour by viewing it on a display in the virtual world but the visual experience coupled with the tactile experience of handling and cutting paper in various sizes leave a lasting impression.
Whilst I learned about him and indirectly from him with his text, it wasn’t until recently that I really looked at his works outside of the interaction of colour painting experiments.
He is widely known for his series of works — Homage to the Square, he started that series at age 62 and worked on it for over 20 years, he continued to work on his series, until his death in New Haven, Connecticut in 1976.
Josef Albers says this about his series Homage to the Square —
“They all are of different palettes, and, therefore, so to speak, of different climates. Choice of the colours used, as well as their order, is aimed at an interaction — influencing and changing each other forth and back.”
His studies may seem to embody a method of study not so far from scientific method — experimenting but it is not rigid and he knows that it is the interaction of colour that is important and how it plays on our psyche. In the oral history interview with Albers from 1968, he says —
“…So, in science what seems true today may not be true tomorrow. There science is dealing with physical facts, in art, we are dealing with psychic effects. With this I come to my first statement: The source of art — that is, where it comes from — is the discrepancy between physical fact and psychic effect. That’s what I’m talking about. When I want to speak about why I am doing the same thing now, which is squares, for — how long? — 19 years. Because there is no final solution in any visual formulation. Although this may be just a belief on my part, I have some assurances that that is not the most stupid thing to do, through Cezanne, whom I consider as one of the greatest painters. From Cezanne, we have, so the historians tell us — 250 paintings of Mont St. Victoire. But we know that Cezanne has left in the fields often more than he took home because he was disappointed with his work. So we may conclude he did many more than 250 of the same problem. Yes?” — Josef Albers
Even with all of the focus on his Homage to the Square series, that was not his original intention, that is where he arrived later in life.
Intention or the quick answer of how he became a professional artist
He wanted to work as a full-time artist, a painter. He was passionate about glass. He wanted to create with glass and he did and made many assemblages. Still, let’s jump back for a moment — where he really began is as a teacher, not an art teacher although he was capable of that as a young man, but a teacher of all subjects. His profession as a teacher, that was what his parents wanted for him and he followed their wishes. He wanted to abandon this profession and came back to it but not in the traditional sense. His occupation as a teacher did, in fact, allow him to survive and transition to a full-time living as an artist. For 5 years it enabled him to earn money and gave him enough time to continue his studies. During that time he saved money and then continued his studies and this time without having to work at teaching. Ultimately he ended up at the Bauhaus as an older student in his early 30s and after a short time there, became a teacher there, but not in the traditional sense.
The Bauhaus
The Bauhaus was a turning point for him. His memories as a student there are not as fond as his memories as a teacher and working professional artist. Here are a few images of works from that period and following this portion of the article you will find the rabbit hole, where you can jump down and in it and dig deep.
His work, has so much to offer us aesthetically and that it is filled with endless lessons. Hence, herewith included are some pics and good links if you want to learn more. In fact, I highly recommend listening to some of the podcasts — all the links follow on this page — have fun exploring and learning about ALBERS.
The Rabbit Hole
Dig Deep and Go to the Source
The Albers Foundation that includes biography information and art of both Josef and Anni Albers:
PODCASTS
A very good podcast about Josef Albers can be heard here — it is over 30 minutes long but worth it. If you are short on time you can listen to a tour podcast which is around 10 minutes, but I recommend looking at a lot of his pix first for that one.
Josef Albers Papers
Since I originally published this article in 2013 a lot has transpired. Many files were digitised in 2016 (not all but a great deal to keep occupied for hours, if not days or more) and you can now, not only access the papers of Josef Albers on the Archives of American Art website but a total of 1,039 images. There are scans of original exhibition catalogues amongst other materials.
TRANSCRIPT Oral History Interview — 1968, June 22-July 5
You can learn a lot about the Bauhaus at the link below, it includes of course Albers as a student and when he became a faculty member in 1925 — Bauhaus 1919–1933: Workshops for Modernity
Stuff by Albers at MOMA over 100 artworks and other images
Flickr Set with Albers
Never fails us a wiki —
More on the Homage to the Square
2012 Exhibition at the Morgan Library in NYC: Homage to the Square
The press release for the Morgan Library’s exhibition of Josef Albers’s paintings on paper from 2012. The exhibition included rarely seen studies from his Homage to the Square series and the press release includes some of these images, embedded here or you can go directly to the link when you click here. The focus of the exhibit was an exploration of the private side of Albers’s work and the influence the US and Mexico had on his career as an artist.
On display at the Tate:
BIO Info
Married to Anni Albers who is herself is a known artist, but not as much as her husband Josef as is often the case with female designer artists — I would like to think that this is changing finally in 2013 (when I first put this together and now in January 2017, not sure much progress has been made?)
Good short bio on the Phillips Collection site here and from the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, Josef’s bio.
A version of this article was originally published at artistsilike.amyadamsart.com on the 5th of July in the year 2013.
Hope you enjoyed getting acquainted with Josef Albers’s work. If you found this post useful, show me your love by tapping on the ❤ button at the end of this post.
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About The Author
Amy Adams is a fine artist (MFA Painting — Academia de Arte Vizuale Ion Andreescu) living and working out of Cluj-Napoca, Romania. She is passionate about the visual arts and music.
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Image Copyright and Fair Use
All images used in this article are captioned and include source links. In addition, they conform to fair use guidelines. You can read the rationale below.
Fair use rationale:
- The images shown in this article are historically significant.
- The images shown are only being used for informational and educational purposes.
- The images are readily available on the internet.
- The images are low-resolution copies of the original artworks and are unsuitable for commercial use.
